Fable IV

Not Folklore, but I do have that.

Kingdoms Of Amalur Reckoning is the game.

Fable 3 was a major let down to me, as it pushed the whole internet collecting thing...which I do not have access to. I was literally limited to like...6 hairstyles? Instead of the wide array in the second game.

I actually enjoyed combat more in Fable 3 compared to the first one though. The melee combat was fun.

Rumours are bouncing about that Fable 4 is being produced... by the team who brought us Forza: Horizon. Cos that's the sort of synergy we need in a Brit-humoured game. Let's hope if true it isn't "Chicken Chaser - the racing years". A weird "Mario Kart" with Fable skin draped over it - complex moral choices and appearance shifting depending how many times you ram your opponent...

Links to reference:

https://www.onmsft.com/news/rumors-suggest-fable-4-may-be-in-development-after-all

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/01/06/xbox-ones-fable-4-could-be-getting-made-by-the-forza-horizon-team/#14e75374430b

The fuel for this fire was from former Lionshead programmer Don Williamson - who tweeted that he "Knew who was making it".

I beta tested Fable Legends - it wasn't quite the horror people were saying it was and was a fun take on team combat. Though it wasn't FABLE really. Just the aesthetic. A shame, as it could've done well in the current climate I think. But Microsoft were skittish.

Not sure how I'd feel about a Fable 4 - it had a certain humour and vibe, but the third game felt off. Fable 1 and 2 were lovely, but I think nostalgia plays a big part. I wanted to have a guild, or rebuild it... anyway, thoughts?

Damn, though, but that sounds cool.

...I don't want to buy an Xbone.

But I do want Fable 4.

Fuck.

Here's hoping it'd be Windows compliant / compatible!

We shall see. I just hope they open the world a bit more but keep the theme.

https://www.windowscentral.com/new-fable-game-reportedly-works

New evidence.

Seems like Microsoft was inspired by Horizon Zero Dawn.

edited 17th Jan '18 3:20:52 AM by AnotherGuy

That could be good. A more open Fable would be nice; plus if they can keep the organic (seemingly) nature of how your decisions can influence things that'd be great. We're overdue another Fable / Amalur type game. Something lighthearted but with an edge.

I wonder if it'll be a full reboot or something continuing the tales? Fable 3 was so long ago now I wonder if people would be that attached.

Just give me a bloody heroes guild to build up (Some minor management elements could work - setting quests as revenue etc)

Eh, at least it can't possibly be as disappointing as Fable: The Journey.

Ugh. Good point.

Legends was ok, a shame it didn't see the light of day; would've prefered a single player game though - felt weird Lionhead went that way but I have a feeling they were forced.

Not dead apparently, new trailer today

So I'm assuming this takes place in a similar time period to the first Fable

I'm guessing either a reimagining of the first game or a full on reboot with a new plot.

I'm probably the only person who's fretting about it (it's probably supposed to be funny), but I really hope the game will let you save fairies from cruel and unusual deaths...

Fairy's in the first game were NASTY things. I liked how they had their own brand of monsters (Same but different: balverines as permanently shifted Weres; Hobbs being children turned into horrors, wearing boots as hats; the weirdly unexplained Court of Shadows - which we DESERVED an answer about)

Also, Fable did a good balancing act between coy, tongue in cheek humour and DARK stuff (The child in the dungeon in Fable 2; the unsettling Gnomes and Gargoyles; the utterly alien aspect of the Spire etc)

It needs to not make the mistake of Fable 2 and 3 of getting... pompous. Or if we get a Kingdom mechanic let us BLOODY USE IT, not some silly binary choices which don't matter. The ending to Fable 3 was... ANNOYING. As it didn't matter that, for example, you put a garrison in the desert, or strengthened the fort in the marsh etc etc.

Fable (The whimsy, the easy combat, the experience and morphing hero, a better moral system) coupled with that "property simulator" and maybe some more sim elements, with a decent UI and something MEANINGFUL with your NPC interactions beyond "Fart at them until they love you," would be great.

Fingers crossed.

I think one thing that’s important to keep in mind is that Fable 3 was released back in 2010, and in the last decade since we’ve seen a whole slew of new influential RP Gs released. I’d be shocked if mechanics from those - especially with fleshing out the world and the NP Cs - weren’t utilized to some degree.

I hope so. If only for a slightly larger world. I don't know if a fully open world is needed but, might be nice.

Thing is, too many shifts, does it remove what made Fable "Fable" as it were.

I do wonder whether they're keeping the world or not. Or if it's a soft reboot with the themes and "idea" of building a more malleable hero, but rebooting the universe.

It's hard to really comment when we've only got a trailer to go on, but probably the biggest thing that struck me is the more forest-y, fantastical angle of it, which I'm not really against necessarily.

But I did like some of the more flintlock fantasy elements introduced in the next two games, so I sort of hope it's not just a complete time reset. Although something set in an earlier time period could be interesting. Admittedly for all I know this Fable is direct sequel to Fable III, and this is just a flash of what's outside the city. We haven't really heard any word on where this game sits continuity-wise, far as I know, so I suppose I'll have to shrug and wait for more info.

It'll be interesting to get some more details on the gameplay. Fable was always a bit of a 'softer' RPG compared to others out there, especially after the first game, and in the decade since Fable III it's not like RPG-elements haven't been shamelessly borrowed by a whole lot of games. A lot of the core reactivity was in the player (and I guess in III weapons) morphing, which was sort of hidden and abstracted, and if anything became more subtle as the games went by.

So how's that going to translate now? What sort of new direction will they go in? The way choices and 'moral choices' tend to be presented have changed a lot. If you were playing Fallout 3 in 2008, you'd probably be surprised to hear that its sequel would drop karma as a system entirely. Which I don't think really is the right angle for Fable, probably, but a lot of Fable sidequests (barr some exceptions) were kinda short romps that ultimately ended in 'pick good outcome or evil outcome', an approach which wasn't really bad but feels less common nowadays.

Edited by Lavaeolus on Jul 30th 2020 at 1:55:31 PM

Even if one didn't see the title of that vid the moment you see the frog eat the fairy you could tell it was a Fable game.

Yeah I'm pretty confident they've got the tone/humor consistent with the older games. It'll undoubtedly retain its personality, but I'm hoping it's more up to date in terms of gameplay and immersion.

I hope they don't pull a Fable II and III and make the player practically unkillable. The only disadvantage to "dying" in those games were getting scars after you "died", and even then it only affects your character visually.

That ties in to how "easy" the game was. Losing experience was a good mechanic, but death is usually handled poorly in games - it results in a reload. So, it's a mechanical issue.

Some games give you "injury" mechanics - so if you get wounded, maybe you get a temporary debuff you have to spend time removing, rather than a cosmetic one? Or an area of the game now has more enemies in it because you "failed"?

It goes back to the whole "lives" thing - restarting from a checkpoint. I'm sure they'll try some form of interesting mechanic... maybe the resurrection item you use is EVIL aligned or something... (just shooting ideas out here)

Why not just do a save-reload? It works in other RP Gs and works perfectly fine. I don't see why Fable has to be creative and trying to 'fix' something that isn't broken when it doesn't seem to have a serviceable idea to go off of instead.

I wonder how they handle "Morphing" in this new game.

In Fable II, I found it so over the top that I actually avoided maxing out those stats for purely aesthetic reasons.

I like how I handle it in Fable 3, where you fly high but not a giant and you become muscular but not a bodybuilder.